BLM’s Environmental Impact Study of Solar Projects in Western States OK, Court Rules

A federal court upheld the Bureau of Land Management’s environmental statement guiding the development of utility-scale solar energy projects in six Southwestern states (W. Lands Project v. BLM).

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California found June 25 that the programmatic environmental impact statement for the development of utility-scale solar energy resources on BLM land in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah didn’t violate the “arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law” standard established in the Administrative Procedure Act.

Plaintiffs Western Lands Project, Desert Protective Council and Western Watersheds Project said the impact statement ...